Factory RGS 1000 Executive info and hello from California

Hey all-

My apologies for the radio silence, I've been underwater lately. Nonetheless, I found some time to keep searching and was able to find the original sales invoice for my father's Executive. It came from Britalia Motors in San Jose, California (there was also one in Santa Cruz owned by a gentleman named John McCoy, I exchanged e-mails with him as well) and was sold to my father by a gentleman named Joe Carter who now owns www.eurojamb.com.
Long story short, Joe bought the bike from Mr. Slater (the importer) brand new and it arrived in red out of the crate. As far as he can recall, Mr. Slater called and told him that he had a red Executive available and Joe took it. The bike proceeded to sit in Joe's showroom for well over a year before he decided to ride it, and ride it he did! He made one glorious 700-mile-a-day ride back from Texas on it. He'd sold a truck and trailer to a friend in Texas and got, as he described it, a "hair-brained," idea to ride the RGS back to California. He said it was an unpleasant ride back due to the long hours in the saddle, but that the bike was certainly capable. The bike was put back in the showroom and sat until December of 1986 when my father bought it.
Here's another funny bit of info; upon looking at the registry, my father's Executive was one of the early RGS' to come to the US, however Joe recalls it to be one of the last RGS' he took delivery from the importer before Laverda went under, which makes me wonder if it sat at the importers (Mr. Slater's) for a good while as well.
I'm heading out the door for about a week on a work trip, but when I get back, I intend on calling Paul and then Mr. Slater. After that, I'd say I've reached about the end of my rope with tracing this bike back to square one and to see if I can solve if the bike came from the factory with red bodywork or if Mr. Slater swapped it. I'll post updates after my conversations in the coming weeks.
Thanks again, everyone. This has been a great history expedition. Up next, the process of making her road-worthy!
 
From the frame number, I would assume it is a 1984 or very early 1985 production bike. (more likely a 1984 I think). My 1000 SFC (which share the same number range as all RGS, RGA and Corsa) is 2934 and it is produced mid 1985. So - seems it did not sit to long at slaters if I take the facts you found out and calculate a bit...  ;)
 
Thanks for the info Laverdalother! That would back up the fact that Mr. Carter said my father's Executive was one of the last, if not the last RGS he took delivery of.
I went and checked the US VIN tag last night, it marks the production date as 02/1984. Do you think the VIN tags are accurate or is the frame number more an indicator of actual production date?
Mr. Carter had a ton of information to divulge about Laverda as a whole and said that while they made wonderful bikes, the company's lack of paper trails, the process of getting parts and warranty claims were anything but "tidy." All interesting stuff!
John McCoy from the Santa Cruz Britalia Motors store said they had a blue RGA they just couldn't sell, it sat for years before they persuaded a friend to buy it at an extreme discount. I wish that was still around, I would love a blue RGA! 
 
not sure what is more accurate, vin-tag or frame number. But 02-1984 seems to fit.

Friend of mine is selling a blue RGA. If you like, I can make contact to him. His english is lousy, but I can help on the correspondence if you like. Will leave in 8 hours though for a 4 days trip to Copenhagen, so sorry if I don't answer as quickly as normally...  ;)
 
what is the original colour of a laverda? - when i stripped the paint on my 'black as bought new from the swiss dealer' i was a touch surprised that the only bit that was originally black was the tank. the fairing and sidecovers had been red and the seat hump orange!! who knows what you might find under your 'original' red paint
 
henry said:
what is the original colour of a laverda? - when i stripped the paint on my 'black as bought new from the swiss dealer' i was a touch surprised that the only bit that was originally black was the tank. the fairing and sidecovers had been red and the seat hump orange!! who knows what you might find under your 'original' red paint
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Wow. Even more Laverda information I was unaware of! So cool!
@Laverdalother. I suppose my wants are bigger than my checkbook, ha ha. Maybe some day! I'm saving my pennies for new tires, fluids and all the small stuff I'll need to get my father's Executive running! A blue RGA would be awesome though!
 
Hi Justin welcome and congratulations on a wonderful bike.
I also live here in the bay area.I bought my first Laverda on 2/14/80 from TT motors in Berkeley.
With all this discussion about color I needed to share the story of my purchase of my bike.
Having never been or seen TT Motors I was calling around looking for a new Laverda. When I called TT Motors and asked if the had any Lavardas the girl working there(Barbara)sure what color do you like?
SHOCKED I asked what color do you have. Barbara said red, blue, and green.
I was in disbelief. I rushed to the dealer in the hope of seeing a showroom with a full stock of Laverdas.
When I got there, I found a green Jota America with Jarama body work on it. I asked Barbara where the rest of the bikes were. She pointed to the red tank and blue tanks hanging on the wall and said again, what color do you want?

While I am not sure about Britilia in Santa Cruz, I know for a fact TT Motors did things their own way.

I am here in the bay area. Send me a PM if you like.

Myke
 
TT Motors is why my Red RGS has silver wheels. I had a deposit on a Red one and they sold it (again)  before I picked it up. They couldn't find another red one so they swapped bodywork, dropped $500 off the price, included a manual and a cover...
 
Besides what has been said already, Laverda hat a standard range of I think 15 colors in the 70's. However, that changed with the RGx series down to 5 I think (red, black, silver, orange, blue), while not all models came in all colors. (Orange & blue mainly on RGA, Corsa mainly black while RGS mainly red, Executive in red or silver, RGS 1000 SFC mainly red, later black, too). Others may add, that is just out of memory. Not saying the list is complete, cause there have been one-offs, too...  ;)
 
mar said:
Sounds just like john
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Don't get me started...after the first service I realized I was on my own...using Ducati shims to set the valves was not John's most brilliant scheme...of coarse getting from Santa Clara to Berkeley for service made it difficult.
 
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